"It is such a horrible, paralyzing disease and it was such a dark time for me," said Scherzinger. "I didn't think anyone knew in my group or in my family because I hid it that well, I was so ashamed. I knew it wasn't normal or healthy because I was hurting myself through this cycle of disordered eating. It was my drug, my addiction. It's an endless vicious cycle."

The former X-Factor judge says it took nearly losing her voice and blacking out while on tour to finally force her to deal with her addiction.

"I had started losing my voice, I couldn't sing at shows, and then I remember my manager finding me passed out on the floor in Malta or in the south of France," she recalls. "I thought, 'I'm going to lose everything I love if I don't love myself.'"

Scherzinger said that today she is healthy, but still struggles with another issue in her life — being incredibly shy.

"I get past my shyness by making everything about others and not thinking about myself," she says. "That's what I did on The X Factor – I can be goofy and playful when it's about the acts. They are like my babies. But when I'm off stage I'm not as big and animated ... for me all my smiles and confidence are a triumph because it came from a broken place."